Coming off their bye the West Orange-Stark Mustangs may have been a little rusty. It took until the second quarter for the Mustangs to break a tie with the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks and secure a 35-14 victory Friday night at Hawk Stadium.
The win was number 401 for West Orange-Stark (4-4, 2-0). Hardin-Jefferson (2-7, 0-3) had a disappointing senior night in the Hawks’ final home game of the season.
Big plays gave West Orange-Stark the lead at halftime. Two of them went to the house and two more set up a third Mustangs’ touchdown.
Hardin-Jefferson attempted an onside kick to start the game, but the ball only went nine yards and no Mustangs touched it. On the second play from scrimmage Kavyn Cooper took a pitch and swept the right end. Cooper got several downfield blocks and went 40 yards for the touchdown. Angel Ibarra kicked the extra point to make it 7-0 with only 44 seconds off the clock.
On their first possession the Hawks were forced to punt, and West Orange-Stark fumbled the kick with Hardin-Jefferson recovering at the Mustangs’ 36. The Hawks went to their big tailback Christian Bowie who carried the ball twice picking up first downs on both plays.
With a first-and-goal at the five Hardin-Jefferson got a break when quarterback Westen Nugent fumbled the snap, but recovered for a one-yard gain. Bowie was stopped for no gain setting a third-and-goal. Using their patented multiple fake handoffs Nugent gave the ball to Justin Smith who carried it into the end zone for the touchdown. Tyler Wooten tied the game with his kick, 4:18 left in the first period.
Starting the second quarter West Orange-Stark used seven plays to drive 59 yards to retake the lead. Big plays in the drive were a 24-yard pass from Tyrone Wilson to Jalen Thompson, and a 22-yard run by Ja’marcus Ross.
With a first-and-goal at the nine it took the Mustangs three plays to score. Wilson snuck over from the one. Ibarra’s kick made the score 14-7 with 8:13 to play in the second quarter.
After forcing a three-and-out punt by Hardin-Jefferson, West Orange-Stark took possession at its 45. On third down Wilson threw long to a wide open Brettlin Wiley for a 51-yard touchdown. Ibarra was good again on his kick to increase the Mustangs’ lead to 21-7 with five minutes left in the half.
Neither team could pick up a first down in the remainder of the half. The teams went to the locker room with West Orange-Stark up by fourteen points.
The second half started like the first half ended with both defenses shutting down the other team’s offense. On West Orange-Stark’s second possession of the third quarter the Mustangs began to move.
A holding penalty wiped out a nifty touchdown run by Elijah Gales. The next play Wilson connected with Wiley for a first down to the Hawks’ 16. One play later Wilson threw a screen pass to Deiondr’e Hawthorne who made several junks and then powered his way into the end zone for the touchdown to make the score 28-7 with 5:34 left in the third.
Wilson was having an exceptional game throwing the football. He completed four more passes on the Mustangs next drive. On the night Wilson was 14 of 20 for 207 yards and two touchdowns. Wiley was his favorite target with six catches good for 108 yards and a score.
The drive stalled and the Mustangs called on Ibarra to try a 31-yard field goal. The kick had the distance, but was wide right.
Second team players saw action after that. Jerren Terrell threw a touchdown pass to Chavon Crawford in the fourth quarter good for 28 yards. Ibarra made it 35-7.
Hardin-Jefferson made a final drive in the closing minutes actually completing several passes including a 30-yarder from Nugent to Sam Dickerson for a first-and-goal. Nugent scored from the two to make the final score 35-14.
Some concern for West Orange-Stark will be the status of two of its best two-way players. Kavyn Cooper and Justin Sibley left the game limping in the first half and did play again in the second half.
West Orange-Stark returns home to play the Liberty Panthers next Friday night. Next week is the bye week for Hardin-Jefferson.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
WOS 7 14 7 7- 35
HJ 7 0 0 7- 14
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